OBT Forum

Original post from Wrangler on BT Forum - posted here as to not clog up the timeline thread on BT feel free to reply here or there.

Interesting move, though politically it will be interesting to see if the Wolves will be able to maintain their economy and self-sustaining abilities.  Like the Wolves in prime timeline, they have cope with lack of factories with Clan tech. Especially now, they won't have replacement gear for a while unless they trade and trials for them.

Sort of yes/sort of no.

The canon Wolves had a few problems
1) the Exiles took a bit
2) they relied on factories in the utopia that was the Clan Homeworlds that unbreachable... 
3) the Jihad blew up a ton of their factories and then Stoner sang the song of love and everyone cried PeaceTech. 

The AU Wolves have some of the same problems but a little less as well.
1) The Exiles still took a bit
2) they were planning this move for almost 2 decades along with the Coyotes.  When the Coyotes arrived wholesale the Wolves were able to accelerate their plans as the Coyotes not the Wolves were the ones needing to establish themselves.
3) no Jihad Stoner isn't that influential at the moment and this is no-way PeaceTech (not that the Republic-era really turned out that way in the end.)

In the short term I think that the Wolves will need to use IS designs to fill gaps in their Touman although they picked this gap in the border especially to avoid major battles with the Inner Sphere nations the majority of the worlds taken were independent planets the others took little interest in.  Over the course of I'd say 3-5 years the Wolves should be able to get their industry working again probably not at full capacity and probably with tons of trouble ie sabotage but operational.  Because of the Wolves small amount of territory I think they can hold out that long by trading with the Sea Foxes to get a decent supply of Clan tech in to keep most of their trueborns happy.

But that was one of the reasons the Wolves contracted the Nova Cats and Snow Ravens to assist them - the additional WarShips provided them with a lot more lift space meaning they could move a lot more (the Ravens provided a Potemkin!) and extra firepower at their destination.  I'm actually understanding a little why the canon writers wrote WarShips out in some ways.

Take this Wolf move for example - discounting the Nova Cat and Snow Raven additions the Crusader Wolves have (as of end Aug 3097) 15 combat capable WarShips (including a Texas and a McKenna) to defend 20+ worlds.  They are surrounded on all sides but that's what they've got.  (their last OZ they were also surrounded and had 30+ worlds to defend)

Against them they have the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth 16 WarShips (none bigger than a Thera) the Marik's have 50+ worlds to defend potentially hostile enemies in the Isle of Skye (Lyran), Capellan Confederation, Oriente Protectorate, Principality of Regulus and Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey (weakest threat).  - Simply put they can't concentrate their WarShips or ground forces against the Wolves unless everyone around them plays ball.

The Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey 10 WarShips (a single Thera the rest Frigates/Destroyers) they have 60+ worlds with hostile forces from Lyran Commonwealth (Tamarind still hold Bolan), Marik-Stewart Commonwealth (weak threat) and a large periphery border.  If they concentrate against the Wolves there's no telling if the Lyrans will play ball they may take advantage and go for Bolan.

Lyran Commonwealth (discounting Mountain Wolf) 12 Combat WarShips, 4 Scout Ships, 5 Merchant Ships - a lot more worlds to cover.  Isle of Skye being a potential internal problem.  The Marik-Stewart Commonwealth (unlikely) and Tamarind (who hold Bolan)  Jade Falcons being a major problem.  Coyotes (being allies of the Wolves) another problem, the Rasalhague Dominion (unlikely) and the Draconis Combine - never discount the Combine.

The SLDF 23 WarShips as many worlds as the Wolves if not a couple more.  Split duties in protecting the Inner Sphere - they have the Jade Falcon border, Rasalhague Dominion border, Coyotes (potentially), Snow Ravens, possibly the Nova Cats, the Wolves, border disputes between the Succession States - the Protectorate Worlds screaming for protection - the Manei Domini got HOW close to TERRA???  Weren't you supposed to PROTECT US SLDF???  That's why we joined up.  That's why we left our power grabbing Succession Lord masters!!

Now let's say they all put forward 4 ships to combat the Wolves (for argument's sake) that's still only sixteen ships to the Wolves 15.  Unless you all go nuke happy it's going to be tough to destroy them and if you do... you could have all the other Clans with all their WarShips crossing the other borders it's the Ultimate Catch 22.

WarShips are a curse and a blessing with them I think it adds another element to the game increases the strategy involved.  But as the Wolf example shows in a concentrated area they're going to be very tough to make any major changes.  In some ways I wish the Republic's "wall" had been a fleet of Caspers or something tangible might have made it more understandable in a universe of Pocket WarShips but that's another discussion.